So I hit a curb on the way to school today on the drivers side front. Basically the colorado department of transportation used low quality salt that melted the snow, but allowed it to re-freeze as ice. With the road covered with ice, I lost control and hit the curb on the opposite side of the road at about 10 mph. Because I was in oncoming traffic, I didnt jump out and check where the curb hit, but heard a really loud snap. I checked the car when I got it to a safe place and it looked like the car was fine. I am very worried about what that snap could have been though. I know my alignment will have to be checked, and I hope that's all the damage that was done

 

disguay, that was just the suspension flexing. Let the alignment shop take a look at the car and if they say that something needs to be fixed, have them show you. It should be pretty obvious. If you have any questions, just ask here. I'm sure one of us can tell you how to check it yourself if you are interested in going that far.

 

Thanks thermo! Just needed a bit of reassurance and make sure that I shouldn't check anything else before taking it to get an alignment. I went down under the car to see if anything looked noticeably broken and didn't see anything so I'll just cross my fingers and get an alignment.

 

Disguay - get it checked asap, we'll all be keeping our fingers crossed its only an alignment needed....

Don't forget to drop back by here and fill us in....

 

Thanks for the extra luck! I always try to keep an eye on these forums just so that I can make sure that I know my car inside and out and can troubleshoot for myself down the road

So after this I've had a strange noise. Not the prop shaft, because I know that will soon have to be replaced (lubed it with no luck.) This noise sounds like tires rubbing on plastic at low speeds so I checked all plastic and found nothing. Maybe it could be ice on the rotors or cv axles? It didn't happen immediately after hitting the curb, but later in the day. Could it just be ice buildup?

 

As soon as I saw this thread I thought there had been something worse, good thing not a big deal
Still, you go to a shop and have staffs check out your ride .May be they will have to lift up the vehicle to see if there is another hidden damage .

Keep us updated

 

Before anything else, do a couple of quick tests:

1) on a straight road let go of the steering wheel and see if the car pulls off to one side or the other.
2) if the car doesn't pull to either side, on the same straight road with your hands still off the wheel, step on the brake and now see if the car pulls to either side.

Repeat these test a couple of times at various speeds.

If neither 1 or 2 is true than to a first approximation your alignment is ok as are your brakes.
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Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons

 

Did this test along with many others as soon as I hit the curb... As soon as the snow stopped falling and ice got off of my wheels I noticed that I will probably need another wheel because I have severely damaged the front left one from hitting the curb. Hopefully that's the extent of the damage so far.

Regent, I was very worried when I first hit the curb because I really do not want to perform major repairs on my car especially in the snow and cold :P

 

Disquay, don't jump right out and by a wheel if it has damage. The bride hit a curb and a couple of deep potholes. 2 wheels damaged to the point they couldn't be balanced. Local wheel repair shop brought them back to brand new. Unlike steel wheels our aloy wheels don't have a memory and they can be fixed. My cost $125 per wheel. Jack

 

Well the wheel isn't really knocked out of alignment, but it took a large chip out of the front of the wheel because I run low profile tires. The problem is I don't think they can repair that because my wheels have a unique coating on the outside which I don't think can ever be re-created without an extremely high cost.

 

What kind of coating? Powder coat? Clear coat? Polished? Chrome? Those are all relatively cheap nowadays.

 

Not powder coater or polished or chrome. It has a bunch of little ridges in the rim. Here's a link to the ones I have:
Stern Wheels ST-15 Go Black

Where the silver part of the rim is, there is a texture that looks like they took spun the wheel on a lathe and put a cutting bit on the wheel in very small increments. Doesn't look like I can re-create it at all...